Landrigan lines up just about anywhere he can for Rutherford and becomes one of the most creative weapons at the disposal of Howell. Howell has lined up Landrigan offensively in the slot, in the backfield or even as a tight end. For as dangerous as Landrigan can be with the ball in his hands, it has been the senior's blocking ability that has given the Bulldogs so much success.

"He was out for four games with a shoulder injury this year and you can definitely see a difference when he was out to when he came back in," said Howell.

Defensively, Langrigan is a leader for Rutherford with 2.5 sacks, 43 tackles, an interception and three fumble recoveries. Howell refers to Landrigan as a quarterback on defense, able to stop the run and capable of dropping back into coverage if needed.

Landrigan has been a lead block for many great runs for senior Abellany "Johnny" Mendez. Mendez takes a lot of the attention for the Rutherford offense, but Howell admits that a Mendez is successful in large part to the other talent surrounding the star running back.

"I think one of the reasons Johnny is so good is because he has this cast of characters around him," said Howell. "It's a nice luxury to have. So when teams focus in on Mendez, we have a kid like Regan who can really hurt you, too."

Mendez is 36 yards away from 3,000 in his Rutherford career, including a career-high 1,419 yards this season. Mendez has averaged 150 yards rushing per game in the four games since Landrigan has returned from injury. When Landrigan isn't rushing himself, his blocking ability has sprung Mendez and other teammates for long runs.

"We take a lot of blocking out in the perimeter as a spread offense and a lot of those big Johnny Mendez runs come from Regan just hammering people and stalk blocking in space," said Howell.

Landrigan has been a key cog for Rutherford's road to repeating as sectional champions, the second straight championship year following a 51-year drought. For the third time in four years, Rutherford travels to MetLife Stadium on Friday for the North, Group 2 championship game against Kittatinny. It's an appropriate sendoff for Landrigan and the rest of the senior class, many of which were with the Bulldogs for a sectional final as freshman in the same stadium three years earlier.

"It's very special to me," said Howell. "Not even just this class but the groups before them really laid the foundation. This is probably the greatest four-year run this school has ever had. It's important to send these seniors out on top. They'll go down in history as a special group for making Rutherford football relevant again, so it's important to send them out on top."